[Cystic craniopharyngioma extending down into the upper cervical spinal canal (author's transl)]

Abstract

A case of craniopharyngioma with a large cyst extending through the posterior fossa down into the upper cervical spinal canal was reported. The patient is a 14-year-old female who was operated on for the first time in 1970, because of a suprasellar calcified mass. Histological examination verified craniopharyngioma of adamantinomatous type. Since then, she had been operated three times because of deterioration of visual acuity. She was admitted for the fifth time in January, 1977, complaining of severe neck pain radiating bilaterally to the shoulders. Radiological examination demonstrated, besides the suprasellar tumor, a huge mass extending along the clivus down to the level of C3 of spinal canal. Anteroposterior diameter of bony spinal canal evidently enlarged in upper cervical region. Interpedicular distance also widened markedly in the same region. Laminae of C1-C3 vertebrae were abnormally stretched and the spinal cord was compressed posteriorly by the tumor. Suboccipital craniectomy verified a cystic tumor in the region of foramen magnum and cervical spinal canal. The medulla oblongata was pushed backward by the tumor. The cystic tumor was evacuated and the capsule of the tumor was partly resected, which was histologically verified as craniopharyngioma of squamous type. The patient was relieved from the neck pain after operation and discharged in April 1977.